


A Blue Ribbon Day

by LeedlingwithRageHappy



Series: Prompt Challenge 2016 [7]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: First Dates, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, joelay - Freeform, practice writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 04:13:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6784711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeedlingwithRageHappy/pseuds/LeedlingwithRageHappy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Ray and Joel's first date at the local fair and things start off well enough until miniature horses come into the picture</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Blue Ribbon Day

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #12: A story about a contest or competition

Today was the day. 

The day that Joel would have his first date with Ray ever. 

Naturally, the older man was nervous, wanting to make a good impression and not quite believing he and Ray felt the same way towards each other. They had started out friendly enough but Joel quickly fell head over heels with Ray and finally admitted his feelings after several months of awkwardly trying to spend as much of his time with the young man as possible. 

Now, here he was, following behind Ray as they made their way through the local fair and feeling himself fall in love even more with each step.

“What do you want to do first?” Ray smiled at Joel over his shoulder, somehow evading everyone in his path. 

“Which-Whatever you want.” Joel replied quickly, realizing he should probably focus on the man in front of him rather than his disbelief of the entire situation.

Ray grinned and a glint seemed to appear in his eyes. “Awesome.” 

With that, Ray’s pace seemed to quicken and Joel caught on that Ray had something in mind all along. A few twists and turns there, Joel himself was completely lost, but Ray charged on ahead towards a barn that Joel hadn’t noticed before. 

“Um…” was the first sound out of Joel’s mouth. Even if he didn’t know Ray that well, he was pretty sure that a barn was the last place he’d find him. 

“You’ve never seen a miniature horse contest have you?” 

Joel blinked, needing to process the words for a moment before giving Ray a confused look. “That too.”

Ray let out a laugh and took Joel’s wrist, leading him into the barn and towards the bleachers that circled around a fenced enclosure.

“It’ll be fun. I promise,” Ray reassured as they sat down. “I know it doesn’t seem like me but we all have our secrets, right?”

Joel could only nod in response and watched silently as the competition began. Of course, what was being judged, Joel had no idea but didn’t want to pester Ray, figuring he’d know soon enough.

“Seriously?” Ray mumbled as the judges discussed the horse’s hooves. The young man rolled his eyes and Joel was left to figure out what was wrong with the critique.

A few more horses came and went along with side comments from Ray about the judges’ “stupid ass decisions” as the young man had put it. However, Joel wasn’t the only one to notice Ray’s sulky attitude, especially when one of the judges kept glaring at them after Ray would say something to himself. Or poorly attempted to, as Joel noted. 

Not wanting their date to turn sour because of some horses, Joel nudged Ray and nodded his head towards the exit. To his relief, Ray agreed and the two got up to leave the judging area. Joel let out a breath, knowing the tension was finally going to dissipate until a rather loud whisper of, “Finally they’re leaving,” from one of the judges made Joel’s stomach immediately drop.

“Yeah, well if you knew what you were doing, we wouldn’t have this problem,” Ray spat out and practically charged towards the fenced-in circle.

Panicking, Joel grabbed Ray by his hood and dragged the younger man away, trying to ignore the string of swears that were leaving Ray’s mouth. It was only until they were a considerable distance from the barn that Joel finally let go, feeling himself automatically give Ray a disapproving look. 

“Yeah, I know,” Ray muttered, toeing the ground with his shoe. “I just...miniature horses are so much more than those judges were making them out to be and they passed up so many-”

Joel felt his eyes widen slightly as Ray passionately continued on, learning more about these animals than he ever cared to before he decided Ray needed to stop for a moment. 

Not really knowing the best way to go about it, Joel smacked his hand onto Ray’s face and held it there as Ray trailed off in confusion. Of course, Joel himself began to feel embarrassed himself, now thinking that his hand slap probably wasn’t the best for this moment.

Letting out a huff, Ray gingerly took Joel’s hand off his face, but didn’t let the hand go as he looked up at Joel. 

“Sorry, this is supposed to be our date. Let’s just go on the ferris wheel or something.”

Nodding his understanding, Joel then thought over his reply before opening his mouth. “It’s okay. I like that you’re so passionate about the horses.”

Now it was Ray’s turn to blush and he smiled at Joel. “Thanks. I can tell you more about them later if you want.” Straightening up, Ray’s smile seemed to brighten and Joel knew that the previous events were slowly fading from Ray’s mind.

“Your turn to pick something then.” Ray wrapped his and Joel’s hands together, making the older man a bit of a sputtering mess before he finally decided on something.

“Maybe some arcade games?” He finally managed out. 

“Oh, hell yes,” Ray grinned and then slightly frowned, worrying Joel that he had said something wrong. “But it’s practically impossible to win. I’m surprised that you of all people would want to do that.”

Joel held his tongue as his mind supplied several memories of his past experiences with such games. It usually ended up with some form of yelling at the vendors to prove his win until they gave him a prize just to get rid of an upset middle-aged man. 

“I guess you get to see what I’m passionate about today too then,” Joel shrugged and felt his heart swell as Ray let out a warm laugh.

The young man wasted no time at all bringing them to the arcade area, where they spent the rest of the afternoon until Joel finally managed to “win” Ray a stuffed creature and the two left the fair with hands entwined tired, yet happy from their day of passion and excitement.

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to [Amari](http://remember-the-mole.tumblr.com) for supplementing this idea


End file.
